District Manager

District Manager

Kate Spade

Columbus, OH, US

Since its launch in 1993 with a collection of six essential handbags, Kate Spade New York has always been colorful, bold, and optimistic. Today, it is a global lifestyle brand that designs extraordinary things for the everyday, delivering seasonal collections of handbags, ready-to-wear, jewelry, footwear, home dcor, and more. Known for its rich heritage and unique brand DNA, Kate Spade New York offers a distinctive point of view and celebrates communities of women around the globe who live their perfectly imperfect lifestyles.

Kate Spade New York is part of the Tapestry portfolio a global house of brands committed to stretching whats possible.

A member of the Tapestry family, we are part of a global house of brands that has unwavering optimism and is committed to being innovative and wholly inclusive.

Primary Purpose:

The District Leader leads and drives all aspects of the Retail business for the district including customer service, clienteling, sales, team development, and operations. This person will cover 14 Kate Spade stores in a combination of Outlet and Specialty locations. In addition, the District Leader will ensure the modern luxury store experience is consistent in the locations within the district and partner with our buying team to provide insights on our customers and competition in the market. The District Leader is accountable to ensure the standards and values of the Kate Spade brand are implemented with the highest level of quality and excellence. Through inspiring presence and ability to motivate teams at all levels, the District Manager will play a significant leadership role. The District Leader will need to reside in Ohio.

The successful individual will leverage their proficiency in Retail Management to

Customer Engagement

Create and reinforce a proactive selling culture that focuses on building long-term relationships through clienteling and customer shopping experience

Foster an environment where service and selling are top priorities through training, coaching, role-modeling, and personal customer involvement

Leadership Effectiveness

Develop the team to deliver outstanding customer experiences across the district

Manage with integrity, honesty, fairness, and knowledge, promoting the culture, values, and vision of Kate Spade

Plan, identify, communicate, and delegate key responsibilities and practices to Coach Store Leaders to ensure smooth flow of operations

Review store environments and key business indicators with Regional Manager to identify successes, problems, concerns, and opportunities for improvement, and provide coaching to District and Store Managers to take action and achieve goals

Create retention and succession plan strategy for the district

Act as a brand ambassador; actively promote the Kate Spade Brand in the market place

Strategic Focus

Communicate vision, strategy, and clear directions to team

Create innovative strategies to achieve both short and long-term goals

Work with Regional Director and cross-functional partners to establish objectives that support the vision

Make decisions that are aligned with Company priorities and values, welcome partnerships and always act in the best interest of the Company, its employees, and its customers

Brand and Fashion Awareness

Stay current with market competition, industry, fashion trends, and customer shopping behaviors

Understand and communicate how Kate Spade products fit into current fashion trends

Keep up to date on Kate Spade's advertising, editorial, PR, and other external resources (social media, blogs, magazines, etc.)

Ensure Kate Spade Employees are perceived as fashion advisors to both associates and customers by communicating fashion awareness and trends in the marketplace

Business Development

Develop and execute strategies to grow the business (e.g., sales, clienteling, customer engagement, talent acquisition, retention, etc.)

Demonstrate a strong understanding of business acumen and analytical skills; strategically forecast, plan, and budget to the needs of the business

Work closely with District and Store Leaders in managing to the budget while identifying and maximizing sales opportunities

Collaborate with business partners (Visual, Merchandising, Planning, HR, LP, Finance, Store Operations, etc.) to ensure strategies are aligned with overall business objectives

In partnership with the Buying team, provide input on the customer and competitor trends. Provide input on the assortment & planning strategy to adapt to the specific customers profiles.

In partnership with the Marketing teams, provide insight on customer's mindset, competitor activities, and defines district level needs. Provide input on how to make North America strategy locally relevant and provide input on Kate Spade's brand position in market.

In partnership with Store Environment, provide input on Visual Merchandise and design needs based on door level specific customer flows and shopping behaviors. Share local competition best practices.

The accomplished individual will possess

10+ years management experience in a similar multi-unit retail environment; a combination of education and experience will be considered

30% travel with this role

Proven ability to create strategies and deliver results

The ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with Kate Spade Senior Leadership

Pro-active problem solver ability to assess an issue and develop action steps for resolution

The ability to think broadly, consider all perspectives on issues, and reach logical conclusions that best serve Kate Spade as a whole

Track record of attracting exceptional Talent to an organization

Our Competencies for All Employees

Courage: Doesnt hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and actionable positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.

Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.

Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.

Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isnt upset when things are up in the air; doesnt have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.

Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.

Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.

Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.

Our Competencies for All People Managers

Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.

Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each persons career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.

Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

Kate Spade is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline, and termination) are based on the applicants or employees qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under the consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other